2010 SCY Nationals

I just looked at the qualifying times for short course yard nationals for 2010. Fast! www.usms.org/.../nqt.pdf Especially for 55-59 women. All the times are faster than last year's, just looking cursorily at events I *might* have qualified for. I am concluding that these faster times have been influenced by the tech suits. Yes, the suits have been around for more than just one year, but I think they get these times by averaging times over 3 years and add a percentage. I think in the last 3 years tech suit use has become the norm at meets, whereas, possibly, 4 years ago and earlier, fewer people were wearing them. For instance, compare qualifying times, 2009, for the 55-59 women, for these events: 50 free (:34.19); 100 free (1:16.37); 500 free (7:11.54); 1000 free (15:00.19), 100 IM (1:28.52); 400 IM (6:57.65), to this year's qualifying times for same events, same age groups: 50 free (:33.24); 100 free (1:14.84); 500 free (7:05.66); 1000 free (14:44.90); 100 IM (1:26.28); and 400 IM (6:49.45). I might have qualified had everyone stayed somewhat near the speeds that represented the average for last year, but these times, for me, will be a stretch. I wonder (and guess that) if Masters bans the tech suits, the qualifying times will go down (be slower) in few years. I recognize also that these much faster times (to my swimmer's body/ability) show that more people are coming back to racing in masters, and that many of these people have been swimming since they were young, or swam in college, and took a break but once back in the water, they still have the muscle memory that I never got, since I took up competitive swimming only when I joined masters at age 40. Not that I'm not determined to qualify for every single event I listed above by working my butt off. And probably for most elite nationals swimmers these times seem slow. But it's interesting to me how much faster they are than last year's.

I just looked at the qualifying times for short course yard nationals for 2010. Fast! www.usms.org/.../nqt.pdf Especially for 55-59 women. All the times are faster than last year's, just looking cursorily at events I *might* have qualified for. I am concluding that these faster times have been influenced by the tech suits. Yes, the suits have been around for more than just one year, but I think they get these times by averaging times over 3 years and add a percentage. I think in the last 3 years tech suit use has become the norm at meets, whereas, possibly, 4 years ago and earlier, fewer people were wearing them. For instance, compare qualifying times, 2009, for the 55-59 women, for these events: 50 free (:34.19); 100 free (1:16.37); 500 free (7:11.54); 1000 free (15:00.19), 100 IM (1:28.52); 400 IM (6:57.65), to this year's qualifying times for same events, same age groups: 50 free (:33.24); 100 free (1:14.84); 500 free (7:05.66); 1000 free (14:44.90); 100 IM (1:26.28); and 400 IM (6:49.45). I might have qualified had everyone stayed somewhat near the speeds that represented the average for last year, but these times, for me, will be a stretch. I wonder (and guess that) if Masters bans the tech suits, the qualifying times will go down (be slower) in few years. I recognize also that these much faster times (to my swimmer's body/ability) show that more people are coming back to racing in masters, and that many of these people have been swimming since they were young, or swam in college, and took a break but once back in the water, they still have the muscle memory that I never got, since I took up competitive swimming only when I joined masters at age 40. Not that I'm not determined to qualify for every single event I listed above by working my butt off. And probably for most elite nationals swimmers these times seem slow. But it's interesting to me how much faster they are than last year's.